Automatic timer



2 Sl-EETSSHEET 1 Jan, 23, 1923.

W. C. F HAEFNER. AUTOMATIC TIMER FILED JUNE 6,192].

- Jan. 23, 1923. 1,442,884

W C. F. HAEFNER. AUTOMATIC TIMER.

FILED JUNE 6, 1921 2 sl-EETS'SHEET 2 Ar a/swim.

Patented Jan. 23, 1923.

"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. F. H'AEFN ER, OF SOUTHGATE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGN'OR TO THEENT'EBPRISE BRASS & PLATING COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OIE'OHIO.

AUTOMATIC TIMER.

Application filed June 6, 1921.

To 1,71 who) it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVTLLIAM (3. F. Hinrnicn, a citizen of the United States. and a resident of Southgate, in the county of Campbell and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Timers. of which the following is afull, clear, and exact descrip-- tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to timers for ignition in internal combustion engines, and more particularly to timers which operate on the basis of a. governor to retard and advance the spark synchronously with the speed of the engine ignited'there'by.

Iain aware that there are timers developed in the past which operate auto matically with the speed of the engine to which they are attached. but in each instance with which I have become familiar there has been a purely spring-controlled device, which in the nature of things would not operate either permanently or uniformly.

It is the object of my invention to simplify -and make practical the automatic timer and especially to provide a timer in which the application of power to the rotary member has a normal tendency to hold the electrical contact in retarded position, so that when centrifugal force re-acts to advance the spark, this-force must counteract the pulling force of the power member. I employ springs in connection with my device, but these are for the purpose of assisting the speed of return to normal or retarded posit-ion upon a. slowing down of the engine.

Itis my object to provide a simple and effective method of setting the timer to normal position and adjusting it as may become necessary to aproper normal.

In the design selected for purposes of illustration I have provided a timer for a Ford engine and wish to note that it requires no change of the usual timer connections and it makes obsolete the use of the connecting rod and spark lever and no parts permanently attached to the engine, the ol'iject being to permitthe installation of my timer by lifting off the old timer, setting mine in its place, and in a very simple manner clamping the wire terminal casing in place.

Serial No. 475,235.

These objects and otheradvantages to be noted I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more specifically pointed out and claimed.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of'a portion of a Ford engine showing my. timer intplace.

Figure 2 is an edgewise elevation of. my timer taken from the left of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a plan View of the interior-of my timer.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan iew of the timer plates.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the under member of the said'mounting plate showing" the springs in place.

Figure 7 is a section on the-line 77 of Figure 4.

Referring first to the casing which carries the contacts and wire terminals, I have shown a circular casing 1 having a conical top 2 for clearing the centrifugal fingers, said casing having mounted interiorly thereof a .ring of insulating material 3, which has the desired numbei of contact blocks 4. set flush therewith.

These contact blocks havesunk into them the binding posts 5 for the terminalsysaid posts being suitably insulated fromthe casing. The wires 6 are connected to 'these posts and extend to the ignition points of the engine.

Mounted on a bolt 7 which leads into a hole which is formed into the time gear plate 8 (this being standard Ford construction) is a clamping finger'9,.which extends out over the casing and clamps it down firmly in place.

On the one side of the casing is set a .plate 10 having a slot 11 therein, said slot carrying the supporting screw 12 of anengaging plate 12, which has a fork 13 to grasp the finger 9.

The plate 12 arc-shaped to correspond with the periphery of the casing. so that when mounting the casing, the plate 12 is set so that when it engages under the finger 9, it will hold the shell. against revolut-ii'm. By moving the screw 12 along in its slot in the plate 10. the casing can be revolved around until the proper adjustment is reached of a timer shell.

Referring to the driven portion of the timer, 1 show the timer shaft 13 having a pin l4l'set therein to serve as a driving mem ber. The driving element of the timer is in the form of a ring 15 having a notch 16 therein which when the parts are set up engages the said pin, there being a nut 17 screwed down over the end of the shaft to hold the ring in place. This ring has ears 18, 18, in which are loosely hung links 19, 19, which as will be noted form the driving connection between the timer shaft and a freely rotatable contact wheel supporting member.

The contact wheel supporting member is made up of a pair of plates 20 and 21 secured together, the lower plate 21 having a hub 22 formed therewith. This hub, as shown has a groove or elevated rib 23 formed therein, which permits it to pass down over the pin on the timer shaft and the depth of the hub is such that in the usual Ford construction the driving pin aforesaid willbe located in the'space between the top of the hub and the ring formed about it by the opening 24 of the upper plate.

Thelower plate is also provided with depressions 25 in its upper surface, said depressions terminating in narrow necks 26 at one end, and in slots 26 extending clear through the plate at the other.

Into the depressions are set springs 27, which are bent to engage in the narrow necks and thence extend across the depressionsto the slots and across the slots.

The upper plate of the device is riveted to the lowerplate and through both plates are set the studs 28 for two arc-shaped fingers 29, said fingers having at their ends suitable holes to receive the driving links fromthe central. collar, fast on the timer shaft.

The upper plate has slots 30 therein to register with the slots 26 and the arc-shaped fingers havetongues 81, which extend down through the slots, where they are engaged by the ends of the spring 27.

Suitably formed weights 32 are mounted on the fingers, as by wires 33 passed over the weights and set through the fingers and these weights give to the fingers the ten dency to move outwardly under the control of centrifugal force. thereby supplying the governor feature of the invent-ion.

To mount the brush or contact roller on the disk elements, I provide a depending bracket 34 on the lower plate to which bracket are pivoted the ends 35 of a mounting piece 36. This mounting piece has also spaced arms 3? in a more widely spaced relation than the ends 85 and between these arms is a pin 38, which carries a coiled spring 39. The object of this spring is to supply an equal pressure at all times against the electrical contacts, thereby providing a tension for the roller brush on the contacts in the shell.

The arms 82" are provided with holes at their ends for the pins 4&0 of the roller brush d1. The roller has a hole with a brass bushing 4-2 extending through it and the pins have shoulders 43, and the spring is in the hole forces the pins outwardly, thereby perinitting an easy installation of the roller brush and in the same way an easy renewal of a brush after one has become worn.

It should be noted of the springs between the two disks of the governor plate, that they are secure y pocketed, so that there is no chance of their dropping out, and that the construction is simple and inexpensive throughout.

In setting up the timer, as has been stated, the usual Ford timer is removed and the collar portion of the disk elements dropped over the timer shaft. There is but one position in which they may be dropped, since there is but one pin on the and one groove in the collar.

When the collar portion has passed beyond the pin, the timer shaft will protrude through the disks and into the space at the upper surface of the under disk, the driving collar is dropped on the shaft with the notch therein engaging the pin or key there-- in. The terminal nut is then turned down.

Since the ears on the driving collar are connected by links with the arc-shaped lingers 29, the revolution of the timer shaft will draw the disk elements around through the medium of the driving collar, links and fingers 29, same being weighted, as described.

The rotation of the disk elements will move the roller brush around, establishing consecutive contact with the interspacedcon tact blocks in the casing member. The weights are held in position close to the shaft without the assistance ot the springs. The springs are so set as not to come into play until the go ernor arms have spread an eight of an inch 01111016 and until then the natural driving tendency to hold the arm inward serves to prevent the too rapid spreading. V

The installation of the casing has been described and its connection and adjustment to give proper reduced spark position to the same.

IVhen the engine starts up, the roller brush carried by the disk elements will. cause ignition on. the proper reduced spark basis,

image and .as theawengine :gainsaepaed the timer shaft moves faster-mnd the tendenoyoof the weighted fingers to spmad [increases The driving force ofatheshaft, pulling. around the disk element by' means of the-links on the-keyed collar, tends to :keep the fingers in their innermost position,--sinee all-the friction of movementwof ithe disk eelement and roller brush aotsito nesistthe timer shaxft movement.

After speed ipieks Hp,' the fingers -will gradually spread, and. as they do, will .hwve to swing with their ends linked up to the ears on thecollar, describin ian arc with. the links as a radius. Ilh-is'wi l pullthe disk elements around in a diroctionwhich is the same asthe direction of movement of the timer shaft, and against all the frictional tendency of the brush and disk element to lag behind-the said shaft. ,What little resistance there is in the springs will also tend to combat this movement and keep the fingers swung in as far as possible, their chief function being to assist in the retarding movements rather than to resist the advance, since retarding movements are always much quicker than advancing movements in the driving of an engine.

The advancing of the disk elements in the direction of rotation of the timer shaft will advance the spark more and more ahead of the full compression point within the engine cylinders and the drop-back of the disk.

elements, as soon as the centrifugal tendency dies down, will retard the spark again, as will be evident.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let-- tors Patent, is

1. In a timing device for engine ignition, the combination with a time shaft, of a driving element fast thereon, a freely revolving element centered with the driving element, Weighted arms on the freely revol ving element positioned beyond the driving element, and link connection between the driving element and the arms, and a contact clement driven b the freely revolving element, and springs fbr the arms, said link connection being so made that centrifugal action of the arms moves the contact element in the direction of rotation of the time shaft.

2. In a timing device for engine ignition and the like. the combination with a time shaft, a freely revolving member concentric with the shaft. weighted, pivoted arms on the freely revolving member, direct non-re silient link connection between the shaft and the arms, and extending out from the common center, and a contact element driven by the revolving member, whereby the driving force of the time shaft tends to hold the pivoted arms toward the common center in opposition to the centrifugal force resulting from the rotation and the link connection being so made that centrifugal action of thearms moves the contact element in the direction of rotation of the time shaft.

3. Ina timing device for engine ignition and the like, the combination with a time shaft, ofa disk clemcntset loosely over the time shaft, means fast on the time shaft for engaging a plurality of links, pivoted, weighted arms on the disk element having connection with said links, a contact brush driven by the disk element. and springs on said arms-adapted to hold the arms with their linked ends near the shaft when the said shaft isidle and said link connection being so made that centrifugal action of the arms moves the contact element in the direction of rotation of the time shaft.

4. In a timing device, a driven member, a' fu'eely revoluble member, governor arms thereon, an electric contact element driven by the freely revoluble member, and substantially non-resilient link connection between the arms and the driven member, and said link connection being so made that centrifugal action of the arms moves the contact element in the direction of rotation of the driven member.

5. In a timing device, a driven member, a freely revoluble member, governor arms thereon, an electric contact element driven by the freely revoluble member, and substantially non-resilient link connection between the arms and the driven member, said governor arms having springs adapted to react on the said arms counter to centrifugal force and said link connection being so made that centrifugal action of the arms moves the contact element in the direction of rotation of the driven member.

6. In a timing device, the combination with a time shaft, of governor controlled means thereon for imparting movement to a contact brush, a casing member carrying a plurality of contacts against which said brush will impinge, a bar adapted to engage the casing on its upper surface to hold it in place, but permitting rotation thereof, and an adjustable member on the casing adapted to grasp the bar to hold the casing in desired adjusted relations on its axis.

7. In a timing device, the combination with a time shaft, of governor controlled means thereon for imparting movement to a contact brush, a casing member carrying a plurality of contacts against which said brush will impinge, a bar adapted to engage the casing to hold it in place, but permitting rotation thereof, and an adjustable member on the casing adapted to grasp the bar to hold the casing in dcsired adjusted relatlons on its axis, said adjustable member comprising a plate having a forked end and a slot and screw connection therefor with the casing.

8. In a timing device, the combination with a time shaft having driving links fast thereon, a disk mounted to revolve concentrically with the shaft, but free therefrom, a plurality of arc-shaped arms set pivotally in said disk outside of the link connection with the shaft, said arms being eighted, and link connection for said arms with said driving links located at the free ends of said arms, and a contact brush driven by said disk,'and springs for said arc-shaped arms.

9. In timing device, a member adapted to be driven by links from a driven member concentric thereof, comprising a pair of disks secured together, slots in said disks, springs mounted between the disks and passing across said slots, governor armson the disk having means to contact with said springs in the slots, and means on said arms for engaging the said links, and a contact brush mounted on the disk assembly, as and for the purpose described. a

10. Inv combination with a time shaft, a disk element having a collar adapted to seat loosely over the shaft, a driving collar fast on the shaft and located toward the center of the disk element, governor arms onthe disk element, links connecting the extreme ends of the governor arms with said collar, and springs adapted to bear on the arms when in centrifugally extended position to return them to normal upon cessation of centrifugal force.

,11. A brush for electrical contact in ignition timers, comprising, a forked mounting member, a roller, with brass bushing, shouldered pins 7 in the bushing, compression spring in the bushingbearing onthe shoulders, and said forkedinounting member having holes therein to receive the pins.

WILLIAM C. F. HAEFNER. 

